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WASHINGTON, Washington County — A southern Utah man previously convicted in a federal drug distribution case is facing a new charge accusing him of fleeing from police.
And according to investigators, Jeremy Daniel Perkins, 44, is also suspected of transporting drugs and guns from Las Vegas to Utah.
Perkins was charged Tuesday in 5th District Court with failing to stop at the command of police, a third-degree felony, and driving 100 mph in a 55 mph zone, an infraction.
On Feb. 14, a police officer in Hurricane spotted a car with a driver who "appeared to be attempting to hide from the sight of the officer." The officer attempted to pull the car over, but the driver ignored the patrol car's overhead emergency lights and siren and kept driving, according to charging documents.
The officer lost sight of the car on state Route 59 between Hurricane and Colorado City, Arizona. But another officer positioned ahead of the vehicles recorded Perkins going at least 100 mph as he passed him, the charges state.
On Sunday, Perkins was arrested for investigation of drug possession with intent to distribute, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, failing to stop for an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to a police booking affidavit, the Washington County Sheriff's Office received a tip of "someone that is consistently running drugs and guns to and from Vegas" who "leaves at night and always returns in the morning. Subject lives in Colorado City, and has a home in Washington."
The tipster said there had been conversations about how the person, believed to be Perkins, drove a white Mercedes and had fled from police in the past while transporting methamphetamine and heroin, the affidavit states.
On Sunday, police received information that Perkins was on I-15 traveling back to Utah from Las Vegas. Officers positioned themselves at the Utah-Arizona state line. About 4:15 p.m., a white Mercedes passed the officers and was pulled over for having an illegal window tint, the affidavit states.
The driver pulled over and an officer identified him as Perkins by seeing his reflection in the driver's side mirror. But the officer also "noticed the Mercedes was not yet in park and as I was giving commands he began to drive away from the stop," according to the affidavit. "Jeremy drove approximately 30-40 yards and came to a stop again. At this time I pointed my gun toward the driver's window and he began cooperating with commands and exited his vehicle with his hands visible."
A drug-sniffing police K-9 was also brought to the scene and after indicting the possible presence of drugs, a small cloth bag was located under the driver's seat.
"When I opened the bag I located multiple pipes used to smoke methamphetamine, and a clear plastic bag with a small black rock substance to which I showed (an officer) and he advised me based on his training and experience was raw heroin. A rifle was also located in the trunk near a duffel bag," the affidavit states.
The arresting officers also learned that "the Washington County Drug Task Force had been working a case on Jeremy and he had already made threats about getting into a shootout if they showed up to his house," the affidavit alleges.
In 2016, Perkins was connected to a federal case involving a St. George doctor accused of distributing oxycodone. Perkins was one of five co-conspirators who pled guilty as part of a plea deal, admitting that "they conspired with Dr. Simmon Lee Wilcox to use his medical license to write prescriptions for oxycodone pills."
Perkins was sentenced in that case to time already served.
